Autography Establishes Vantage, can Promote Standpoint

Gornick’s description of life writing that reveals the “loneliness of the monster” and the “cunning of the innocent” is exactly the performance of standpoint, the portrayal of understanding one’s social position within the greater cultural hierarchy. This inherently questions the assumptions of hierarchy.

The point of vantage, on the other hand, is to establish one’s position within the hierarchy, often by articulating a personal position on what the hierarchy should be or how it should work. Thus, autography that fails to indicate the author’s complicity in the processes of hegemony my simply serve to reinforce or justify the vantage of privilege.